Ashish Kumar Bhutani appointed CEO of PMFBY

Government has appointed senior bureaucrat Ashish Kumar Bhutani as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). He has been appointed to post till May 2020. He is IAS officer (1992 batch) of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) :

It is farmers’ welfare scheme launched in 2016 to ensure faster insurance services or reliefs to farmers. It was formulated in line with One Nation–One Scheme theme by replacing earlier two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) by incorporating their best features and removing their inherent drawbacks (shortcomings).

Objectives :

Provide insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in event of natural calamities, pests & diseases. Stabilise income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.

Beneficiaries :

All farmers growing notified crops in notified area during season who have insurable interest in crop are eligible under this scheme. It also provides insurance benefits to Landless labourers.

Under this scheme, it mandatory for use of technology such as smart phones, drones etc to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be also used to reduce number of crop cutting experiments.